The Best White Chicken Chili

Submitted by boardgirl148

"This is the first recipe I ever tried for white chili, and it is the best one I have ever found. I found it in a cookbook called So Fat, Low Fat, No Fat, but don't let that fool you. The chili may be low on fat but it has a fantastic flavor and always gets raves every time I make it. This is not the exact recipe in the book, as I have made a few minor adjustments to make it a little easier."

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photo by Jonathan Melendez

Ready In:: 1hr 35mins
Ingredients:: 13
Serves:: 8

ingredients

2 ¹⁄₂ cups water
1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, trimmed of all excess fat
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 cup chopped onion
2 (8 ounce) cans white shoepeg corn, drained
2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chilies, undrained
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 -3 tablespoons lime juice
2 (14 ounce) cans great northern beans, undrained
shredded monterey jack cheese, to garnish

directions

In a 5-qt stockpot, combine water with the lemon pepper, 1 tsp ground cumin, and olive oil.
Bring to a boil.
Add the chicken breast halves and return to a low boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer 20-30 minutes or until the chicken is fork tender and the juices are clear.
Remove the chicken from the broth and cut into bite-size pieces, then return it to the broth.
Add the garlic, onion, corn, green chiles, 1 tsp ground cumin, lime juice, and Great Northern beans to the broth.
Bring to a boil.
Simmer until thoroughly heated, about 45 minutes.
To serve, ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle cheese on top.
Refrigerate any leftovers; this chili is usually even better heated up the next day.

Questions & Replies

No chili powder, no red pepper, very little seasoning for chili. Sounds pretty bland to me. iwill try it anyway. I will use chicken thighs with skin and bones for better flavor, then after the thighs are cooked, remove skin and bones, shred the meat.

Chuck R.

Reviews

I love this! Had it at a friend's house and had to make it at home. I did shorten the cook time by sauteeing 2 chicken breasts chopped, onions and after a little, garlic in the oil. Then added the spices, and finally the rest of the ingredients. Used chicken stock instead of water and eye-balled it. Such a good, healthy recipe! Thanks!

lolablitz
Great chicken chili! I made it just as written and I couldn't be happier with the outcome. Everyone loved it!

Jonathan Melendez
Great!! I added a green bell pepper, a can of creamed corn, and a can of regular corn. Very tasty. Both kids even liked it. Served with corn muffins. Topped with cheese and greek yogurt.

beverlyt
This is great! I like to make it early and let it simmer a few hours on the stove before we eat it. It makes the house smell yummy and allows all the great flavors to blend. Thanks for posting!

admullins
My husband loved this. I didn't care for it. Didn't think it had enough flavor. I think I would leave out the corn and use a can of chicken broth. I did add some jalapeno's to try to spice it up a tad.

slickchick

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Tweaks

I love this! Had it at a friend's house and had to make it at home. I did shorten the cook time by sauteeing 2 chicken breasts chopped, onions and after a little, garlic in the oil. Then added the spices, and finally the rest of the ingredients. Used chicken stock instead of water and eye-balled it. Such a good, healthy recipe! Thanks!

lolablitz
This turned out very well. Here are the changed I made either due to convenience or on a hunch: Replaced 1 cup of water with 1 cup of chicken stock. Used one can of regular corn and one can of creamed corn (the creamed corn to make sure it came out thick and creamy) Added a bunch of cayenne. We like heat! Didn't have any canned green chiles so I used a couple of fresh poblanos. It worked well and gave it some bright, fresh flavor. Added more cumin and some salt and freshly ground pepper. Topped it w/ some shredded cheese and fresh cilantro! I will make this again. :-)

HeatherBH
My first time making white chicken chili and it was perfect! I used navy beans and baby butter beans instead of great northern beans and I used mexicorn instead of white shoepeg and chilies. Also didn't have lemon pepper so I used garlic pepper. Great recipe!

mrvautier
This is darn good stuff! My kids and I really enjoyed it! I made ahead, then just heated it up when we were ready to eat, to let the ingredients meld, for better taste. I used 1 can of cream style corn in place of 1 can of the white shoepeg, as I wanted the taste and texture from the creamed corn. It was so yummy! Thanks!

karens2kids
Easy and good! Well-received by family. A great low-fat meal. The only changes I made to the recipe were substituting 1/2 the northern beans for garbanzo beans and shredding the chicken instead of cutting. Shredded is much more appealing (in my opinion).

willjoa